photography: yashica120: palimpsest

Rome is a many-layered place. Ancient spaces butting new developments. Timeless walls and today's grafitti - a neverending palimpsest.  

The word grafitti is rooted in Italian. In 1851 the word is used to refer to "ancient wall inscriptions found in the ruins of Pompeii." It is the plural of graffito "a scribbling," a diminutive formation from graffio "a scratch or scribble," from graffiare "to scribble." [online etymology dictionary]  

The Romans loved to grafitti. And so the tradition continues. And so we scribble our lives on ancient walls.